


Killers Among Us

by Relh99



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Reader Interaction, Voting, cursing, every color has a name I made up, more tags to come, non-binary characters, readers vote on who gets eliminated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26728363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relh99/pseuds/Relh99
Summary: The crew mates aboard their ship, The Skeld, have all been together in space for a week now. Routines have been established and small friend groups are being formed. The day their Captain decides to switch things around though is the day they realize they have an imposter aboard the ship with them.(This is a reader interactive fic! Commenters are the ones who vote characters off at the end of every chapter! More details in notes)
Comments: 107
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’m trying something new. I was surprised that Among Us fanfiction was a thing, but as soon as I found this community, I realized I wanted to write a fic where the readers got the chance to vote characters out. 
> 
> How it’ll work:
> 
> I already know who the imposter (or imposters) are. Your guys job will be to vote down in the comments either skip, or a name/color of who you think the imposter is. You can discuss, ask questions, whatever! But you only have 1 week after each chapter to vote. At the end of the week, I’ll tally the votes and write the next chapter accordingly. 
> 
> I think this’ll be fun! Kinda like a fic and a game all in one! I’ll make sure to leave a list of who’s still alive to vote for at the end of every chapter with the character’s name and color. Thank you for participating in this idea I had, and I’m looking forward to see how you all choose to play this. Good luck!

They always started the day in the same spot. The cafeteria was the largest room on the ship and the easiest place to gather and await for their daily tasks. Out of the five round lunch tables though, the center one was never used for eating. Instead, it was home to the emergency button, and was used for the morning meetings. Celine had forbade food and beverages from being placed on that table out of fear of damaging the button. No one had had to press it yet, but she still worried.

Only 9 of the 12 crew members were in the cafeteria at 7 am. That wasn’t unusual. Celine was most likely getting everyone’s task lists ready for the day. Amy would be with her in the admin office, watching carefully. She wanted to be captain of her own ship one day, everyone knew that. She followed Celine around like a hawk, shadowing her in hopes of learning how to run a ship and crew successfully.

And then there was Charlie. They wouldn’t get to the cafeteria until Celine arrived and noticed their absence and sent Chris to wake them up. The crew had only been on the ship, The Skeld, for a week, but everyone already had a routine. 

Ash was currently leaning up against the doorway that led into the weapons room. Being close buddies with Celine and Amy gave him a bit of an advantage when it came to getting daily tasks assigned, even if the two women swore he didn’t get special treatment. Ash knew though that he’d be sent off to weapons to keep an eye out for any asteroids and polish the arsenal aboard the ship. 

Link, Morgan, and Sean were all at the table closest to the admin office on the right, eating breakfast together and talking loudly. Their noise level was clearly getting on Ash’s nerves, but neither party commented on the matter.

Lillie, Oliver, and Ethan were all eating quietly at the table furthest away from Ash. They were the youngest crew mates, so the three of them often stuck together and made it a goal to avoid pissing off the wrong people. A good group, intelligent group, but none of them had previous experience working on a crew. 

Chris was attempting to strike up a conversation with Violet over by the door that led to the med bay, but it was clear to everyone who bothered to look over that Violet was not interested. 

The hissing sound that came from the opening of the admin doors caught everyone’s attention. Chris and Violet immediately headed over to the center table. Lillie, Oliver, and Ethan hurried to dispose of their trash before heading over, while Link, Morgan, and Sean quickly shoveled the last of their breakfast into their mouths, trying to finish eating before Celine got there. Ash didn’t bother moving from his spot.

Celine made her way into the cafeteria right as the loudmouth group sat down at the center table. Amy followed shortly behind, a stack of color coded folders in her arms. Everyone had a color folder that matched their uniform. Amy passed around the folders, leaving Ash’s at an empty spot on the table, and Charlie’s and her own folder in her arms.

“Chris, would you please go and wake up Charlie?” Celine asked. Her voice was even, but everyone could see the twitch of annoyance in her eyes. “Ash, please take a seat.”

Chris got up, leaving his folder behind, while Ash slowly made his way over to the table. He didn’t bother opening his folder. 

“Um, Captain,” Lillie said, raising her hand slightly. “I have a question about the changes on my daily tasks sheet.”

“We’ll go over the changes Amy and I made once Chris and Charlie come back,” Celine said, sitting down. There wasn’t a head to the round table, but Celine sat facing the opening to the glass case that covered the red emergency button.

Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for Chris to come back with an apologetic Charlie. Amy handed over the lime green folder to the late crew member before taking a seat on Celine’s right.

“Charlie, for the last week you have been late to the morning meeting five out of the seven days,” Celine said. “As punishment, you’re on garbage duty for today, and possibly the rest of next week too if this tardiness continues.”

“Ey, ey, Captain,” Charlie mumbled, flipping through their task folder. Sean left out a sigh of relief, happy to not be on trash again. Everyone had a main task assigned to them for the day, but there were other tasks on the list as well that could be completed if a crew member finished early.

“Lillie, in regards to the changes made, I wanted to move a few of you guys around in order to give you guys a chance to learn new tasks,” Celine explained. “If you have any questions about new tasks, you’re more than welcome to ask Amy or myself, or even a fellow crew member on how to successfully complete said task.”

“What do you not know how to do on your list, Lillie?” Chris asked. 

“I’ve never done wiring before,” Lillie admitted. “I did all of the practice examples before launch, but I haven’t done it for real yet on this ship.”

Link grinned and set his own folder back down on the table, having finished looking through it. “If you need help with wiring just gimme a holler. I have an easy day over in security so feel free to come grab me!”

“Link, why don’t you go with Lillie to the first panel to show her before you go over to sincerity,” Amy suggested. Her eyes glanced over towards Celine to gage the Captain’s reaction in regards to her suggestion. Celine nodded.

“Good idea, Amy. Does anyone else have any concerns about their tasks for today?”

“I think I’ll be okay in electrical, but I would appreciate it if someone came and checked on me later on,” Oliver said. 

“Uh, I have a question,” Ash said, sliding his folder over to Celine. “Why the fuck am I scheduled in the reactor room? I’m always in weapons! Who’s covering there now?”

“I have Chris in weapons today, Red crew mate,” Celine said, her voice stern. Everyone stared awkwardly between her and Ash. Celine only ever referred to them by their uniform color when she meant business. Her and Ash may be buddies, but it was clear that his tone of voice was unacceptable, especially at a crew meeting. “Like I said, I’m rotating people around so everyone can learn new tasks. If you’re concerned about being able to handle the reactor for today, I can switch you and Charlie and have you run trash instead.”

Charlie didn’t look thrilled at the idea of working in the reactor room, but Ash didn’t seem excited over the thought of running trash, so he kept his mouth shut and instead glared at Chris. Chris was one of those crew mates that could be put almost anywhere and do a decent enough job, but it was never perfect. Whoever was watching shields needed to be on it if Celine was planning on pulling Ash away from asteroids duty.

“Any more questions?” Celine asked. Everyone remained silent. “Good. Meeting dismissed. I’ll see you all back here for lunch and to review your morning progress.”

Ash stood up first and marched his way over towards the reactor room. Violet followed shortly behind. Celine hadn’t moved her from her normal spot in the med bay, and she wasn’t willing to stay behind to figure out if that had been a fluke. Charlie begrudgingly got up and went over to clear off the trash left behind by Link, Morgan, and Sean. 

“You ready to get started, Lillie?” Link asked, tucking his own folder under his arm. 

“Yes, thank you, Link,” Lillie said, smiling warmly. “I think one of the panels I have to check is in the admin room. Would you watch me do that one, please? I don’t want to mess up the wiring in Celine’s office if I can help it.”

Amy stood up and joined the dark green and pink clad crew mates. “I’m actually switching places with Celine for today, so I can swipe your ID cards once we all get to admin.”

Lillie’s eyes widened and Link scratched the back of his head.

“I’m so sorry,” Lillie started.

“I actually left my ID card in my room,” Link added. “I woke up late and hurried over. Didn’t want to wind up on trash duty like Charlie!”

“Oliver was knocking at my door this morning and I completely forgot to grab my ID card,” Lillie explained. “I am so sorry, it won’t happen again!”

Amy smiled and waved them off. “Don’t worry about it. Just make sure to grab them before lunch and then we can swipe them afterwards.”

Crew mates were to swipe in before starting any tasks for the day. It was a way for Celine to keep track of everyone throughout the day. A swipe put them on the admin board, and could be used to track crew mates in The Skeld. This wasn’t the first time a crew mate left their ID behind though. Charlie often forgot to swipe in until lunch time. Ash, Chris, and Violet though almost always swiped in before the morning meeting.

A few other crew mates were lined up outside of the admin room, ID cards in hand. Amy opened the door and took a seat at the desk before accepting IDs. Link and Lillie started working on the panel at the front of the room, so Amy focused on checking people in.

Morgan- orange crew mate. Age 25. Scheduled to clean out the O2 filter.

Oliver- yellow crew mate. Age 17. Scheduled to clean out the electrical room and fix issues as they appeared.

Sean- brown crew mate. Age 30. Scheduled to organize the storage room and fuel the engines as needed.

Ethan- cyan crew mate. Age 21. Scheduled to watch the shields.

Crew members not accounted for were Link, Lillie, and Charlie, but Amy knew she’d check them in before lunch. Normally, Amy was in charge of navigation. It was one of the more challenging tasks on the ship, but Celine was more than capable of handling it, and she wanted to give Amy a chance to practice assigning tasks on her own. 

Link and Lillie were already gone by the time Amy got everyone else checked in. The panel had been screwed back into place. They hadn’t spent long in the room, but Amy shrugged it off as there being nothing seriously wrong with that panel. Link did just fix it the other day, and he was an expert when it came to rewiring The Skeld. 

Link wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of sitting in front of the security cams all day. He could understand why someone like Charlie preferred this task though. It was easy to zone out. After all, besides the slight possibility of Ash getting into a fight with someone else on the ship, or Violet scaring someone out of the med bay, there wasn’t much to keep an eye on. That, and the view from the cams was limited. They only had four installed so far. Link and Oliver were supposed to set up more, but Celine hadn’t assigned them the task yet. Link jotted down the thought on his list quickly before turning his attention back on the screens.

Morgan could be seen carrying the upper engine’s first round of fuel. Just across the hall, Link could hear Ash kicking the metal panel in the reactor room. The perfect excuse to get up! Link pushed back his chair and went across the hall. Sure enough, Ash was fuming over the nine button box.

“Having fun?” Link teased.

“Fuck off, Green.” 

Link smirked and walked over to see what exactly was driving his fellow crew mate insane.

“I don’t understand how the kid manages to keep up with the bullshit flashy pattern,” Ash grumbled. “Kid can barely stay focused when Celine’s talking. I’m surprised the reactor hasn’t blown up with him in charge of this task.”

“It’s not too difficult,” Link admitted. “You just gotta take it slow. Although, I’m not the best at it either, so don’t go pointing fingers at me if you manage to overheat it!”

“I’m not gonna overheat it.”

Ash punched another button before the red emergency alarm began to go off. It wasn’t the meeting alarm though. It was the reactor overheating alarm.

“Fuck!” Ash cursed. “How do we fix it?”

“We?” Link asked, looking just as panicked. “I don’t know! Ethan’s the reactor expert!”

“Well where is the kid stationed today?” Ash asked.

“Fuck, shields maybe?”

“Kid better hurry over here then! Shields won’t help us if this explodes!”

Link and Ash turned around when they heard the dull thud of a plastic container hitting the floor. Morgan had run in and dropped the fuel container before hurrying over to a palm scan on the right side. “Ash, scan your palm over there! Link, type in the disable code when the screen lights up!”

For once, Ash didn’t argue. He ran over to the second palm scan and held his hand there while Link quickly typed in the disable code written in his folder. Celine changed the codes everyday as a safety pro caution and slipped them into the folders of crew mates who were scheduled near the reactor or O2 rooms in case of emergencies. 

The three of them didn’t get to celebrate their victory long before Ethan came running in, looking terrified.

“I leave this room for one day and you bitches already almost get us killed!” He shouted. Link and Ash stared at him in shock. Ethan didn’t normally speak up like that, at least not to them. 

Ash recovered from Ethan’s outburst first. “Blame dear old Captain. She’s the one who switched us all around.”

“I’d consider this a good learning experience if you ask me,” Link said.

“You can learn when our lives aren’t on the line!” Ethan snapped. “I don’t care what Celine said, Ash, go cover for me in shields! I don’t trust you here!”

“You don’t have any authority over me, kid-“

“I’m sorry, it wasn’t a fucking request! It was a demand! Go before you get us all blown up in space!”

Ash looked around the room before grabbing his folder and slipping out into the hallway. “If Celine chews me out for abandoning my post, I’m throwing you under the bus.”

Morgan and Link quietly left the reactor room, not wanting to get on Ethan’s bad side. Morgan picked up the empty fuel container they had dropped before waving bye to Link and heading back down towards storage. Lillie was outside of the security room, staring intensely at the wiring behind the panel. 

“Need any help?” Link asked.

“I think I got it,” Lillie muttered, her voice low as she concentrated on her work. 

“I can double check it when you’re done,” Link offered.

Lillie connected the last two wires and beamed. “No, I really think I got it! I went over and checked on Oliver like he asked and he showed me this neat trick of how to do it!” She started screwing the panel back into place. “Thanks you though, Link!” The pink clad crew member picked up her tool box and began making her way towards medical. Link smiled to himself and went back over to his chair in front of the four monitors.

On one screen he could see Sean and Morgan walking back up towards the first engine, fuel canister in hand. Link could’ve sworn he saw Morgan refuel the first engine already, but maybe he was imagining things.

Violet could be seen heading into the admin office. She normally brought Celine a cup of coffee while waiting for her lab results. Link had expected her to head over to navigation since Celine and Amy traded tasks for the day, but sure enough the purple clad crew member just walked right into admin, two cups of coffee in hand.

The hallway that connected shields and navigation was empty. Traffic wasn’t too heavy over there at this time of day anyway.

The camera over by med bay was empty too. If Link had gotten back to his position sooner, he would’ve seen Violet leaving her station and head over towards the cafeteria to get the two cups of coffee.

The job itself wasn’t exciting. Link loved checking the wiring, because it meant he was free to move around The Skeld and interact with other people. Here, he was all alone just watching the rest of his crew mates perform their daily tasks. 

Link wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but after a while the cameras became more lively. Most of the crew was headed towards the cafeteria for lunch. Link instinctively got up to join them, only to remember that security takes their lunch in the office in order to keep an eye on things. 

Charlie was the one who overslept, but Link felt like he was the one being punished. Thankfully, Chris eventually wandered in with an extra tray of food.

“Thanks man,” Link said, taking the second tray and placing it in his lap. Chris took a seat on the floor and leaned up against the wall.

“Figured you could use some company,” Chris explained. “That, and I wanted to ask about what happened in the reactor room? Ash said he’s down in shields now and begged me to switch with him.”

“You normally watch shields and Ash normally does the weapons checks,” Link shrugged. “Makes sense.”

“Yeah, but Ash was supposed to be in the reactor room.”

“You heard the alarm go off earlier, right?” Link asked. Chris nodded. “Ash couldn’t figure out one of the screens. The reactor overheated, and Morgan came running in to help sort it out. Once we got the alarm to shut off, Ethan came in, yelled at all of us, and demanded that Ash get out and cover shields so he could watch over the reactor.”

Chris let out a low whistle. “Doesn’t surprise me. Ethan only learned how to work the reactor to get over his fear of that thing blowing up while we’re in space. Makes sense that the boy has some anxiety about someone else watching over it.”

“I didn’t know that,” Link said.

Chris shrugged. “Most people don’t. I have random info on almost everyone on this ship.”

“Oh really?” Link asked, suddenly curious. “What dirt do you have on me?”

“Well I know you helped with the original wiring on the ship before launch,” Chris started. “I know you’ve worked on a handful of other ships, but never in space. You did a lot of the work on the ground, and this is your first mission in space.”

“Yeah, but do you know why I decided to join this mission?” 

“That info I do not have. Care to share?” Chris asked.

Link smirked and took another bite of his lunch. “You’re mister random facts man. I think you’ll be able to figure it out soon enough.”

Chris laughed and stood up. “I hope you know I plan on bugging you every day now until I get an answer.”

Link laughed along and handed Chris back his tray. “Looking forward to it, pal!”

Chris took the two trays and walked them back over to the cafeteria. Sean was standing over by the dumpster talking to Charlie.

“I’ll be in storage if ye need help,” Sean said, dumping his own garbage down the shoot. “It’s not a hard task, it’s just an all day task, ye feel me?”

Chris handed Charlie the two trays and watched as the sluggish crew mate dumped the trash and stacked the trays off to the side.

“Charlie, if you want I can start knocking on your door when I get up in the morning,” Chris offered. 

“Nah, I’m fine,” Charlie said. “I’m just gonna do a bad job today and hope Celine gets annoyed and puts me back in security tomorrow.”

“I’d suggest seeing if Link’s willing to trade, but Celine made it clear this is a punishment task,” Chris said. 

“Yeah I don’t wanna get the other green crew mate in trouble for my bullshit,” Charlie laughed. “I’ll be fine for a day. Might take a nap under one of these tables when Celine and Amy leave.”

Chris didn’t bother arguing at that point. Charlie was one of the most uninspired people Chris had ever met. How he managed to become part of The Skeld’s crew, Chris would never understand. Most of the crew had left the cafeteria already, going back to their own tasks. Lillie had just finished her own lunch and was throwing what looked like a second lunch into a paper bag.

“Snack for later?” Chris asked, walking over to her. 

“Oh no, this is for Oliver!” Lillie explained. “He told me earlier when I went to check on him that he was going to stay behind and finish up with whatever task he was doing. I couldn’t understand half of what he was saying honestly,” she laughed. “I’m not the best when it comes to technology.”

“Want me to come with you?” Chris asked. “Ash begged me to go back to shields for him so I’m heading down through storage anyway.”

“Sure!” Lillie said. She rolled up the paper bag and grabbed her pink folder off of the table and tucked it under her arm. “Hopefully Oliver likes what I packed for him. I felt back since he took time away from his tasks to help me with mine.”

“Wiring issues?”

“I said I’m bad at this technology stuff. I still don’t know how I got accepted as part of the crew.”

Chris nudged her with his elbow. “Hey, you’re an important part of this team. You’re also so cheerful and willing to look on the bright side. We need some of that, especially with certain crew mates around.”

Lillie giggled and shook her head. She looked like she wanted to respond, but both her and Chris paused once they got to electrical. For some reason the door was closed. 

“Why would Oliver close the door?” Chris asked.

“He wouldn’t. He was nervous about working alone in electrical. That’s why he wanted someone to check on him,” Lillie said. 

Chris frowned and knocked on the door. “Oliver? It’s Chris and Lillie!”

There was no response, but after a few seconds the door hissed and slid open. “After you,” Lillie said, stepping behind Chris. The blue clad crew mate took a deep breath and stepped inside.

“Oliver?” He called.

“I brought you lunch,” Lillie added.

The pair rounded the corner and froze. The sound of the bagged lunch hitting the ground was ignored. Chris covered his mouth in horror while Lillie let out a blood curdling scream. Face down on the floor lied Oliver. There were several wounds on his back, all bloody and all deep. His helmet was on the ground next to him, the lens cracked. There was a pool of blood on the floor and his eyes were glazed over, lifeless. 

Someone had killed Oliver on this ship. Someone had killed a fellow crew mate and was currently still aboard the ship. 

“Lillie,” Chris choked out. “We have to press the emergency meeting button.”

“No, I can’t leave him!” Lillie screamed. She had fallen to her knees at some point. Chris hadn’t noticed.

“Lillie, his killer is still on this ship, we have to report this.”

“I LEFT HIM ALONE IN HERE!” She screeched. “I can’t- I won’t, you can’t make me leave him! I can’t do that again!” She was sobbing at this point. Chris wanted to join her on the ground, crying over his dead crew mate, but now wasn’t the time. They were unarmed, and the rest of the crew was uninformed. Chris mentally tried to pull himself together as he bent down to pull Lillie back to her feet.

“We’re going to come back for him, but right now, we have to tell everyone else,” Chris said, trying to keep his voice stern.

Lillie didn’t fight back as Chris dragged her out of electrical. She continued crying as they made their way back towards the cafeteria. Somehow, they didn’t pass a single other crew member on the way to the button. Lillie collapsed onto the bench and buried her head in her arms as she sobbed while Chris lifted the glass and pushed the red button, setting off the alarm. 

It didn’t take long for everyone to suddenly rush into the cafeteria. While no one had ever had to push the button while aboard The Skeld, they all were taught before what the alarm would sound like. Celine ran in and paused when she saw Lillie crying. Ethan and Morgan were trying to comfort her, but Celine’s attention was all on Chris.

“What happened?” She asked.

Chris looked around at all of the crew mates. Everyone looked confused. No one knew why he had pressed the button. Chris took a deep breath and looked back at Celine.

“We found Oliver in electrical. He was stabbed several times in the back. Someone killed him,” Chris explained.

Celine’s eyes widened in shock. Several crew mates gasped in horror. 

“Who’s we?” Ash asked.

“Me and Lillie.”

“What do we do?” Violet asked. Her voice was much softer than normal, shakier. 

“There’s a procedure we must follow,” Celine said, trying to stay calm. “Everyone take a seat. I’m going to grab the book-“

“We can’t just leave Oliver down there!” Lillie cried. “He’s in there all alone!”

“Once we follow this part of the procedure, we will move Oliver’s body, don’t worry,” Celine explained. “Everyone sit. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Everyone sat down at the large round table. Ethan and Morgan were crying with Lillie now. Link was tearing up, Charlie was staring off at nothing, Violet was slowly rubbing her temples in an attempt to calm down, and Ash looked ready to kill whoever was responsible. 

“Amy, do you know what Celine is talking about?” Ash asked.

Amy shook her head. “No, I- I didn’t even know we had a plan in place for this. Death, sure, accidents happen, but this...”

No one said anything else after that. Celine came back into the room, a small binder in hand. She took out a pen and opened up to a page that clearly showed the ship’s roster. She put an X next to Oliver’s name and a star next to Chris’.

“What’s the star for?” Chris asked.

“You called the meeting,” Celine said. “There’s certain things I have to fill out.” She set down her pen and took a deep breath. “There’s no easy way for me to say this, so I’m just going to say it. Someone here, at this table, killed Oliver. I need everyone to go around and tell me what exactly they were doing today. If anyone wants to vouch for someone or if someone notices a lie, feel free to call it out.”

“What’s the point of doing all of this?” Ash asked. “Why not just interrogate us until someone cracks and you punish them?”

“The reason I cannot go around myself and interrogate you guys is actually for your own safety,” Celine explained. “What if it turns out that I was the murderer? Instead, it’s a voting system.”

“What, like we vote on who we think killed Oliver?” Sean asked.

“Precisely,” Celine nodded. “You may choose to forfeit your vote as well. If the majority skips, or there’s a tie, we go about our tasks and stay on guard. If someone gets voted out though, they are to be removed from the ship for crew safety.”

“Removed as in put in an escape pod?” Violet asked.

“No. Removed as in pushed out of the air lock and into space.”

Everyone was silent. Celine waited a moment to see if anyone would chime in, but no one did. What were they supposed to say? Why was this the policy put into place? What if they got the answer wrong? So many questions, but everyone was either too shocked or afraid to ask.

“Ethan, we’ll start with you and go around the table,” Celine said. “Tell us what you did today.”

Ethan wiped his face with his hands, trying to hide the fact that he had been crying. “I- I woke up, and I got breakfast. I ate with Lillie and Ol... Oliver,” he stuttered. “After the meeting, I went down to shields, but when the reactor alarm went off, I hurried over to the reactor room and switched tasks with Ash.”

“So you pasted the electrical room where Oliver was found?” Ash asked, glaring at Ethan.

“Ye-yeah, but I never went inside!” Ethan said. “Oliver is my... was my best friend on this ship. Whoever did this...” he shook his head and covered his face with his hands, crying again. 

“Lillie?” Celine asked, looking at the crying girl next to Ethan.

“Oliver woke me up for breakfast today,” Lillie said, trying to calm down enough to tell her story. “I ate with him and Ethan. Link helped me out with some of the wiring in the admin office. I went down to storage next, then electrical to check on Oliver. He said he was gonna be late to lunch, showed me a trick to the wires, and then I left to fix the wires by security. I decided to help with meal prep afterwards, so I was in the cafeteria until lunch. Chris went with me to deliver a bagged lunch to Oliver, and that’s when we...”

Morgan patted Lillie on the back before looking around the table. “Oliver was alive at breakfast so I’m just gonna skip to after that. I swiped in with Amy and went down to storage to refuel the engines.”

“You weren’t scheduled to do engines today,” Amy said, cutting in.

“It’s a habit of mine,” Morgan argued. “I do engines everyday, so I went down there outta habit. Sean noticed there was a crack in the fuel container I normally use, so I went to go find a replacement. Ash set off the reactor, I helped shut it down, and then finished helping Sean with the fuel. Ate lunch, and then went over to do my actual task of cleaning out the O2 filter.”

Sean nodded. “Yeah, Morgan helped me out with fueling the engines. I stuck around in storage afterwards though. Saw Lillie messing with the wires at some point. Spent time with Charlie at lunch, talking about trash. Chris came over for a bit, and then I went back down to fuel the engines again.”

“I was helping Lillie out to start in admin,” Link said. “Went over to security, watched the cams for a bit, helped when Red overheated the reactor, went back to security, Chris brought me lunch, and now I’m here.”

Charlie didn’t notice they were up next. Link elbowed them in the arm to get their attention. The lime green clad crew mate jumped in surprise before looking around the table. “Imma be real, I did the trash in here and in the O2 room, but then I took a nap in the communications room until lunch, and then I took another nap under one of these tables.”

Violet fought back the urge to roll her eyes at her fellow crew mate. “After breakfast I went over to the med bay to get started on my test samples. Once they were all prepped, I brought Amy a coffee in admin and waited in there for my samples to be ready. I examined them before lunch, ate, and then returned to organize them.”

“I did a lot of moving around,” Ash said. “I was in the reactor room until the blue kid started yelling at me for overheating the reactor. I went to shields until lunch and then switched with Chris afterwards and went up to weapons. Only passed electrical once and that was on my way to shields, but I saw Lillie go in when I walked by, so Oliver was still alive at that time.”

“I stayed up in weapons until lunch,” Chris explained. “At lunchtime though, Ash asked to switch tasks with me, I brought Link his food, and ate in the security room. I brought the trays back, talked to Sean and Charlie for a bit, and offered to walk with Lillie over to electrical. The door was closed for some reason, but when it opened, that’s when we found Oliver...”

“I only left the admin room for lunch,” Amy said. 

“And I was in the navigation room until lunch,” Celine said. “I took the same path past weapons there and back.”

Everyone had said their peace. Everyone had a place that wasn’t electrical. The security room had been empty for a moment, as well as the med bay. Morgan was pretty getting over to O2, and Ash switched tasks several times.

“Now what, Captain?” Amy asked, ending the silence.

“Now,” Celine said, picking her pen back up. “We vote.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for voting! I’m glad people participated! I loved reading everyone’s thought process before voting. It made writing this chapter a lot of fun!

The eleven crew members still alive all stared at one another. It was wild to think about how they went from a twelve person crew that all, for the most part, got along, to now having to consider shooting someone out into space for murder. 

“Okay,” Chris said, breaking the silence. “So... we vote or skip. Are our votes anonymous?”

Celine shook her head. “No. Someone can start the voting, it doesn’t matter who, but every vote must be said out loud and I’ll keep tally.”

“So not only are we throwing a fellow crew mate under the bus for something they might not have even done, but they’re gonna know that we’re blaming them on top of that?” Link asked. “What if we get it wrong? Or worse, what if we vote for the murderer, but they don’t get voted out, and then they come after us because they know we’re onto them?”

“You may skip,” Celine said.

“Then yeah, I’m skipping,” Link responded. “I can’t see anyone here murdering Oliver, even though I know that’s what happened. I just... I don’t want to get it wrong and have blood on my hands.”

“Who’s to say you don’t already have blood on your hands?” Violet spoke up.

“Excuse me?”

“You expect me to believe that you, the person in charge of watching security, didn’t see anyone leaving or entering electrical?” Violet asked.

“There’s not a camera that points to electrical,” Charlie said. “We haven’t gotten all of the cameras installed yet. There’s only four up and running, and none of them give you a view of electrical.”

“Who was supposed to install the rest of the cameras?” Chris asked.

Link raised his hand. “I’m supposed to install them, but Celine hasn’t given me that task yet.”

“I was waiting until everyone felt comfortable enough to be moved from their normal positions so I could pull you off of wire maintenance for a day,” Celine clarified. “That’s why I switched the tasks around for today.”

“You were still the only one who stayed behind and didn’t eat in the cafeteria,” Violet said, staring at Link. “Lillie confirmed Oliver was alive before lunch, so how do we know that you didn’t kill him while the rest of us were gone?”

“I ate with Link in the security room,” Chris said, jumping in. 

“But you brought back his tray and left him in the security room,” Violet pointed out.

Chris glanced over at Link who was looking both terrified of getting voted out, and angry that Violet was accusing him of murder. He slowly nodded, keeping his eyes on Link. “Yes, that’s correct, Violet.”

“So he could’ve ran over to electrical, killed Oliver, and ran back to his post before you and Lillie got there,” Violet said, ending her argument. “If you’re innocent, I’m sorry, Link, but there’s too much evidence that points to you. My vote is for Link.”

Celine put a tally down next to Link’s name. “Okay, one skip, one against Link.”

“I don’t like how Violet’s just throwing shitty accusations around,” Ash said, glaring at the purple clad crew mate.

“It’s not a shitty accusation. I provided solid reasoning as to why it could be Link.”

“Yeah well you throwing Link under the bus like that makes you sound suspicious,” Ash snapped. “I don’t trust that. Mark my vote for Violet.”

“Guys, we can’t just vote for people because we disagree with them!” Ethan said, his eyes wide in panic. “That’s not going to help us find Oliver’s murderer!”

“I don’t think it was Link,” Lillie whispered.

Everyone stared at the pink crew member. Lillie wiped the tears from her eyes and looked over at Link. “He wouldn’t do that. And I don’t like blaming Violet either without any evidence. I’m skipping. I don’t think we know enough to vote anyone out.”

The rest of the crew all looked around at each other. It was clear Lillie was the most distraught over Oliver’s death, and if she was saying to skip, then...

“I agree,” Chris said. “We don’t know enough. Like Link said, if we get it wrong and throw someone out into space, then that blood is on our hands. I’m skipping.”

“I’m skipping too,” Charlie added.

One by one, the rest of the crew mates announced that they were going to skip as well. Celine marked down everyone’s votes before announcing that she too was skipping.

“Alright. No one’s been voted out,” Celine announced.

“So now what?” Ash asked. “We just let Oliver’s murderer run around the ship scot free?”

“The voting is final,” Celine said. “If someone calls another emergency meeting, we’ll vote again, but until then, yes, whoever the murderer is is still among us.”

“I’d suggest using the buddy system,” Amy added. “Walk each other from task to task. Pay attention to your surroundings. Make sure everyone gets to their quarters at the end of the day, and make sure that you lock your doors.”

“Yes, when possible, I will try and assign common tasks so it’ll be easier for you guys to pair up,” Celine said.

“Doing that though means we could accidentally team up with the killer,” Sean pointed out.

“A group of three could be safer,” Morgan said. “That way, even if you do pair up with the killer, you still have another person there to watch your back.”

“Why is everyone acting like this is normal?” Ethan said, slamming his palm down on the table. “Oliver is dead! Someone here killed him, and now we’re just going on with our day and coming up with cute little plans to stay alive. You all realize how fucked up that is, right?”

Lillie placed a hand on Ethan’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. “Oliver wouldn’t want any more of us to die. These plans will help make sure the rest of us survive and complete our mission.”

Ethan sighed and buried his face in his hands. “I know, I know. It’s still fucked up though.”

“You can say that again, kid,” Ash nodded in agreement.

Celine stood up and grabbed the binder. “We’re done for today. Amy and I will deliver dinner to everyone’s quarters. I’d recommend heading straight there and locking your doors until dinner time. I’ll make note of what tasks didn’t get done and either try and complete them, or roll them over for tomorrow.”

“What about Oliver’s body?” Lillie asked. “You said we wouldn’t leave him there.”

“We’ll move his body to the ship’s morgue,” Celine confirmed. “Do I have any volunteers?”

“I’ll help,” Chris offered. “I already saw the body once. I don’t want anyone else to have to go through that.”

“I’ll help too,” Charlie offered. That surprised a few people. Charlie wasn’t the type to volunteer to do anything. They weren’t particularly close to Oliver either, so the gesture felt weird. Charlie noticed the several pairs of eyes on them and frowned. “I have a little brother home around Oliver’s age. I would want someone to do the same for him if the roles were reversed.

“I’ll go too,” Ash said. “The younger people on the ship don’t need to see this shit.”

Celine nodded. “Everyone else is dismissed for the day. I’ll escort you three to the morgue. Amy and I will handle it from there afterwards.”

“Ye having any regrets about wanting to be a captain now?” Sean asked Amy as the crew all stood up.

Amy’s eyes looked distant, like she wasn’t fully there. The sound of someone talking to her though managed to pull her back. She shook her head to help regain focus and gave Sean a tight smile. “Let’s just say nothing prepared me for murder. I wasn’t even aware we had a plan in place to deal with this kind of situation. I don’t fully agree with it, but since there aren’t any secure places to hold prisoners here... I get it, but I don’t like it.”

Sean nodded. “I understand. I feel bad not being able to give Oliver proper justice by kicking out his murderer, but I don’t think it was Link, and I’m not about to pin it on Violet just cause she has a stick up her arse.”

Amy chuckled weakly. “I get that. Get back to your quarters safely.”

“You too.”

Sean hurried to catch up with the rest of the crew leaving for their quarters. Thankfully, everyone had their own rooms aboard The Skeld, so there was no need to worry over possible murderous roommates. The crew’s rooms were all on a lower level of the ship. One by one, everyone went down the ladder, with Sean going last. He shut the trap door behind him before climbing down. Morgan and Link were waiting for him at the bottom. 

“Buddy system, remember?” Link said, smiling weakly. 

“Triangle of trust here,” Morgan chuckled, no humor in their tone. 

Sean did his best to smile, but it was hard. Oliver had been the youngest crew member, and someone still found the will to stab him in the back. Literally. 

The kid had only been 18.

“Who went with Ethan?” Sean asked. With Oliver gone, the 21 year old was now the youngest crew mate. 

“Violet and Lillie all went together,” Link said. “Even though I’m hurt that Violet voted for me, I don’t think she’s the murderer.”

“Don’t worry, Link. We wouldn’t let them throw you into space for something you didn’t do,” Morgan said, nudging Link’s arm. “We got your back!”

“So does Chris, apparently,” Sean smirked.

“Yeah, I gotta thank him for defending me up there later,” Link nodded.

They stopped at Link’s room and waited for him to get inside and lock his door. Sean and Morgan were neighbors, so thankfully one of them wouldn’t be left to walk alone for a period of time. 

  
“Knock on your wall 3 times after you lock your door so I know you’re good,” Sean said.

“You too.”

The two crew mates went into their respective rooms and locked their doors. Morgan went over to the wall that separated their room from Sean’s and knocked 3 times. After a slight pause, Sean knocked back. Morgan exhaled the breath they hadn’t realized they had been holding in and went over to their closet. They changed into their nightwear- orange themed just like their jumpsuit. 

They changed before going over to the bed, falling backwards onto it. Celine and Amy were going to be bringing dinner by, but after the events of today, Morgan didn’t feel like eating. Their stomach ached, but they knew if they ate now, they’d just throw it back up. Instead, they opted to take a note from Charlie’s book and let sleep steal them away.

Maybe when they woke up, this would all turn out to be a bad dream.

*********

For once, everyone was on time to the morning meeting. Despite that fact though, there was still an empty seat at the table. No one brought it up. 

Celine handed over everyone’s folders with their daily tasks. More changes had been made overnight.

“Does anyone have any questions?” Celine asked.

“Yeah, do we wait for someone else to die before calling a meeting?” Ash asked.

Violet shot him a dirty look which Ash happily returned. Whether they killed Oliver or not, Link was convinced those two would end up killing each other is this kept up.

“No,” Celine answered. “If for any reason you feel unsafe, or have information on who the killer could possibly be, then you’re more than welcome to come here and press the button.”

“Please watch each other’s backs,” Amy added. “Even though we’re all assigned to different stations, that doesn’t mean we can’t go check on each other.”

“Link’s installing the extra cameras today, so Chris, please come and let me know if they’re not working properly,” Celine said.

Chris nodded. He wasn’t normally in charge of security. Celine normally made better use of his skills, but he wasn’t about to complain. Ethan would be right across the hall in his normal spot in reactor, and Lillie would be walking back and forth between the engines today. 

Celine dismissed them and everyone stood up. Chris, Violet, Lillie, and Ethan all headed left towards the med bay. Charlie, Ash, and Amy all went to the right towards the weapon’s room. Morgan and Sean stayed to start their tasks in the cafeteria, while Link followed Celine down to admin to grab the extra security cameras.

The door to the admin room slid open and the pair headed inside. Celine went over to her desk and reached underneath, pulling out a large box with an additional 4 security cameras.

“All of the proper locations for these are listed in your folder,” she said, sliding the box over to Link.

“Got it. I’ll make sure they’re all ready to go before today’s shift ends,” Link said, picking up the box.

“I’ll be walking around today to make sure everyone’s okay,” Celine said. “If you need help, make sure you stop me if you see me doing my rounds.”

“Will do, Captain,” Link nodded. He took the box and left, leaving Celine alone in her office. He went back into the cafeteria to set the box down and check his list to see where exactly Celine wanted the cameras.

“Glad you haven’t died in the five minutes you’ve been out of our sight!” Morgan called from over by the trash shoot. Link shot them a look, and the orange clad crew member bit their lip. “Too soon?”

“I was wondering why I was put on wires today,” Sean said. He had the wire panel off to untangle the wires. 

“It’s simpler than installing security cameras, but if you feel up to the challenge, we can switch,” Link teased.

Sean shook his head. “Temping, but no. Don’t wanna give Violet a reason to throw me under the bus next time just ‘cause I fucked up setting them up. She’ll think I sabotaged them on purpose or some shit.”

That idea hadn’t crossed Link’s mind, but now he knew he had to be extra careful.

“I’m gonna go set up the one near electrical first,” Link said.

“I’ll see ye down there in a bit,” Sean said. He hissed in pain and jerked his hand away from the wall. “I thought Lillie did these yesterday! How are they still this fucked up?”

“She probably didn’t get a chance to finish,” Morgan shrugged. “We were stopped abruptly yesterday. I didn’t finish cleaning out the O2 filter.”

“Poor Charlie,” Link chuckled. 

“Poor me!” Morgan argued. “I’m on trash today! I mean, yeah, they have to clean up what I didn’t get to, but I have to clean up whatever they throw out, so really this is my loss.”

Link rolled his eyes and threw his folder on top of the box before picking it up off the table. “See ya in a bit, Sean.”

Morgan and Sean both waved by to Link as he made his way down through storage. It was the quickest way to electrical, and he wanted this camera in particular up ASAP. He set the box of cameras down next to the door leading into electrical. He doubled back to grab a step ladder from storage before hurrying back to his spot. Lillie was headed his way, empty fuel canister in hand.

“Hey, Lillie!” Link called. She smiled and waved at the dark green crew mate.

“Hi, Link!” She greeted. “Getting those cameras installed, I see.”

“Yeah, when you pass by security again, can you let Chris know to keep an eye on the monitor to make sure they turn on?” Link asked. 

“Sure!”

“Thanks, Lil. Oh, also let him know Celine’s going to be walking around while I get these set up.”

Lillie nodded. “Will do. Don’t fall!” She said before skipping away towards storage. She seemed to be doing much better than yesterday. Most likely denial. It was the first stage of grief after all.

Link didn’t want to be around when she got to stage 2.

Lillie passed by again as he was attaching the camera to the wall. He still had to hook it up to the system, but he’d be able to move around more once it was secure. He tried reaching down for a screw when his grip on the camera slipped and it fell, hitting him on the head.

“OW, shit!” Link cursed. The camera fell to the floor while Link held the top of his head. He wasn’t bleeding, but it still hurt. He mentally wished he didn’t accidentally break the camera. They were heavy duty, but he really didn’t want to give Violet any reason to vote for him again.

Link paused. Vote again. The thought crossed his mind so quickly he had to stop and process what exactly he was implying to himself. Someone else on The Skeld was going to die. They were going to have to vote again. This was a fact that Link knew well enough to causally think about with no effort after one day.

“You okay there, buddy?”

Link yelped in shock and jump back, falling off of the step ladder. Thankfully, he managed to catch himself on the wall, preventing a second injury. 

“I’m so sorry!” Sean said, going to help Lin steady himself.

“It’s fine, I’ll live,” Link laughed. 

“Those cameras giving ye trouble?” Sean asked. He picked up the fallen camera and stared at Link.

“Just dropped it on my head, no biggie,” Link shrugged. “Those wires in the cafeteria give you trouble?”

“Yeah, those multicolored fuckers shocked me!” Sean said, his voice a slightly higher pitch. “I don’t understand how ye can go around this whole ship rewiring and untangling that crap and not walk away with a single burn mark!”

“Years of practice,” Link chuckled. “Here, you wanna help me get that camera up? It’ll give you a break from wires for a bit.”

Sean handed Link back the camera and smirked. “Only if ye help me out in electrical after this.”

Without a second of hesitation, Link grabbed the camera and nodded. “Deal.” 

Things went much smoother this time around with Sean there to hand Link the screws he needed. Once the camera was secure, Link was able to get all of the proper wires attached. He flipped the camera on and the little red light on top lit up.

“Sweet,” he whispered under his breath. “That should do it.”

“Is it working?” Sean asked.

“I gotta check in with Chris to be sure, but I can do that after you finish up in electrical,” Link said. He stepped down and folded up the step ladder. He set it against the wall so it’d be out of the way and picked up the box of cameras again. “After you, good sir.”

Sean rolled his eyes, but still led the way into electrical. They rounded the corner and paused. They were standing where Oliver had been murdered the day before. While there was no lingering evidence showing that such a heinous crime ever took place there, they both just stood there in fear for a moment.

“The camera should be on,” Link finally said, breaking the silence.

“Should be?” Sean asked, his voice high pitched.

“Just hurry up and check the wires,” Link hissed. “Lillie did them yesterday so they shouldn’t be bad.”

Sean worked quickly to remove the panel covering the wall. Behind it, the wires were a mess. They were all crossed over and tangled up. Sean glanced over at Link and frowned.

“I’m starting to think Lillie is just bad at wires.”

Link nodded. “Yeah, no, she was pretty bad when I tried to show her in admin.”

“Wonder how she passed the practice exams to make it onto this crew?”

“The wires portion is literally just connecting the dots.”

“Now I’m wondering who designed the practice exam for potential crew mates.”

The pair laughed. The noise sounded odd in their current environment. The sound echoed off of the narrow, metal walls in an almost unnatural way, and the chilling thought of the fact that they were in a room where someone they knew was murdered never left their minds. Yet they still laughed, because what else were they supposed to do? They couldn’t afford to break down sobbing or freeze up in panic every time they thought about Oliver, and humor was a good distraction. 

Assuming they survived this, they were all going to need therapy.

Sean screwed back in the metal panel and stood up. “Alrighty, off to find Chris and ask about the camera.”

Link and Sean headed back out into the hallway and headed towards the security room. They passed by Lillie who was staring intensely at the calibration screen for the lower engine. They paused and watched for a minute as she struggled to line everything up properly.

“Need some help?” Sean asked.

Lillie’s eyebrows were scrunched together and she tried to concentrate on her task. “No thanks, I almost got it.”

Sean and Link watched her for a moment longer before continuing towards security. Link set the heavy box right outside the door to security. 

“I’m gonna go check on Ethan,” Sean said. Link watched his buddy walk across the hallway over to the reactor. Thankfully, all of the doors were open, so even if something happened, they’d be able to hear someone screaming. Strange how the idea of hearing someone screaming was suddenly a comforting thought.

Link tapped his knuckles against the doorframe and poked his head into the security room. “Knock, knock!”

Chris spun around in his chair. His eyes widened in fear for a brief moment, but he relaxed once he realized who it was. Link nodded his head towards the monitor and stepped fully into the room. 

“You didn’t see me and Sean walk up?”

“No, I was following Celine’s movements honestly,” Chris admitted. “Lillie told me she’d be making rounds today. I just wanted to make sure she’s leaving rooms that she enters.”

Link nodded and walked over to the monitor. “I got one of the cameras set up outside of electrical. Came over to make sure it was up and running.”

“And here I’m thinking you stopped by to say hi,” Chris teased. “Yeah, it’s working fine! You did scare me for a minute though when you turned it on. Your face was so close to the camera lens.”

Link laughed and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Sorry about that. Glad it’s working though! I’ll bring you lunch today to make up for me scaring you.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Sean suddenly walked in grinning. “Good news is Ethan hasn’t blown himself up yet in reactor.”

“Ethan is the one person on this ship I fully trust to not blow us all up,” Chris laughed. 

“I didn’t realize the kid knew so much about that kinda stuff,” Sean admitted.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Chris asked. 

Link started heading back towards the door. “I’ll be back later. Gonna try and get another camera installed before lunch.”

“Good luck!” Chris wished as Link and Sean left the security room. Link picked up the box with the security cameras in it before heading down the hall towards the upper engine. Sean elbowed Link’s arm once they were out of earshot of the room.

“What, you’re not eating with me and Morgan now?”

Link rolled his eyes. “You wanna sit on the security room floor and eat lunch later?”

Sean shook his head. “No, I’m an old man. I can’t sit on the floor for too long. My back will hurt and then I won’t be able to finish my tasks.”

“You’re not an old man. You’re only two years older than me, and I’m not old.”

“I remember my youth,” Sean sighed. “Appreciate your last few years in your twenties. Thirty is when the old starts creeping up on ye.”

“I think you’re just over dramatic.”

Sean gasped and placed a hand over his heart. “Me? Dramatic? Perish the thought, good sir!”

“Oh, forgive my egregious error, good sir!” Link begged.

The pair laughed as they passed Violet in the hall on the way to the cafeteria, coffee cup in her hand. Link stopped laughing the moment he made eye contact with her. 

“Don’t let my presence ruin your good time,” she said. Her lips were pressed together in a tight line and her eyebrows were low set in what Link assumed was a permanent scowl on her face. “What’s so funny?”

“Just telling Link here to enjoy his youth while he can,” Sean laughed.

Violet’s eyebrows scrunched together and Link made a mental note regarding the fact that she could change her facial expression.

“You are aware that you’re not the only one of the ship in their thirties, right?” Violet asked Sean. “You’re not even the oldest person here.”

“I know, I’m just messing with him,” Sean admitted.

Violet took a drink of her coffee and shrugged. Her face went back to its natural resting pissed off expression. “Celine is walking around. If you feel like calling her old to her face, please come get me beforehand. I’d love to watch her rip you a new one.”

With that, Violet walked past them and went back into the med bay. To most, that interaction might’ve seemed weird, but that’s how almost every interaction with Violet went. 

“At least she didn’t try and frame ye for murder again,” Sean said after a moment.

“Too soon.”

The two of them cut through the cafeteria and made their way over to the weapons room to get up the next camera. Ash decided to watch them from his gun seat.

“Any idea if they work or not?” He asked.

“Got one hooked up outside electrical that’s working just fine,” Link said as he screwed the second camera into place. “Fingers crossed that they all work.”

Link and Sean managed to finish setting up the second camera just in time for lunch. They offered to walk with Ash but he waved them off.

“No one is managing shields, so Amy’s bringing me food so I can keep an eye out here,” Ash explained.

Link left the box with the remaining two cameras at Sean and Morgan’s table so he could carry a lunch tray over to security. On the way, he passed Lillie and Ethan, who were half-leaning on each other as the walked. They were the closest to Oliver before, so it made sense that they’d appear the most hurt and rely on each other for support.

“I’m honestly not even hungry,” Ethan mumbled and Lillie guided him into the cafeteria. “I could’ve stayed in the reactor room.”

Lillie shook her head. “If you’re here, then I know you’re safe.” Yesterday she ate lunch without Oliver and then he was found dead in electrical. She was going to eat with Ethan.

Ethan must’ve connected the dots, because he didn’t fight it after that. Although, he wasn’t one to fight back often. It’s hard to argue effectively when you’re oblivious to your general surroundings the majority of the time.

Ethan could feel everyone staring at him and Lillie as they grabbed their food and sat down to eat. He wasn’t a fan of all of everyone’s eyes on him. He tried to convince himself that they were all staring at Lillie. She was one of the people who found Oliver’s body yesterday. Ethan just told himself that they all felt bad for Lillie and that they were looking at her to make sure she was okay. That helped calm his anxiety, but only by a little bit. 

“Who do you think did it?” Lillie asked, pulling Ethan out of his thoughts. 

Ethan shrugged. He was pushing his food around the tray with his fork, not really eating. “Could’ve been anyone, honestly. No one had anything against Oliver, so no one sticks out, at least in my mind.”

Lillie sighed. “I just wanna know who killed him. And like, how did they manage to get away with it?”

Ethan shrugged again. “You could point fingers at anyone really. You could say Chris is suspicious, because he randomly followed you to electrical after lunch. He could’ve just wanted to see your reaction. Violet had some points against Link, and even Ash’s argument against Violet could work. Could’ve been Morgan or Sean in between refueling the engines. Could be Ash, or even me since we traded positions and walked by electrical. 

“You didn’t kill Oliver, did you?”

“Lillie, please stop,” Ethan whispered. “I don’t like talking about this. And for the record, no, I didn’t kill Oliver.”

Lillie nodded. “Sorry, I just... I don’t know who I’m supposed to be angry at and it’s driving me crazy.”

“I get that.”

They ate the rest of their meal in silence. When they were done, Ethan took Lillie’s tray and dumped the trash.

“I could’ve gotten that for you,” Morgan said. Ethan turned around right as the orange clad crew mate dumped their own trash. 

“I didn’t want to make your job harder,” Ethan said, stacking up the trays off to the side. 

Morgan snorted. “Harder? Dude, I’m on garbage duty. You’re the one with the hard job. Gotta make sure we don’t get blown up in the middle of space with no one around to hear us scream.”

Ethan gulped. He hated thinking about the endlessness of the black void they were currently flying through. “S’not that hard. Just takes some concentration.”

“Concentration that I don’t have,” Morgan chuckled. 

Ethan laughed weakly. “My concentration is pretty shit honestly. Fear though is a pretty good motivator to keep someone on task.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Morgan smirked. They stacked their own tray and walked away to gather the rest of the abandoned trays from the cafeteria tables. Everyone had already begun heading back to their posts. Ethan went back to where Lillie was waiting to walk back with her.

“Was Morgan giving you any trouble?” Lillie asked.

Ethan shook his head. “No, we just talked about tasks.”

The rounded the corner towards the reactor room right as Chris and Link were leaving security. Chris turned to the pair, looking relieved. 

“Something wrong?” Ethan asked.

“Communications error,” Chris explained. “The cameras are all down. Link and I are heading over to coms to fix it.”

“So there’s no one watching us?” Lillie asked.

“Celine is still making her rounds,” Link said. “She’ll be around to make sure you guys are okay.”

Ethan rubbed his palms against his jumper as he watched Link and Chris walk down the hall and head towards coms. His hands were too sweaty, he shouldn’t be this scared, but knowing the cameras were down sent his anxiety skyrocketing. Lillie grabbed his arm and gave him a gentle tug.

“I have to finish calibrating the lower engine. You have to check on the reactor. I’ll come back up when I’m done, okay?” Lillie said. She spoke slowly, giving Ethan time to process what she was saying. Ethan nodded stiffly and headed into the reactor room. Lillie let go of his arm and headed back to the lower engine.

Ethan smacked his hands against his cheeks in an effort to refocus himself. He went over to the center panel and watched the lights flash across the screen. Everything was reading normal, thankfully.

Ethan didn’t take pride in much, but his knowledge of how the reactor worked and his ability to fix issues before it overheated was something he was proud of. He had worked hard to earn a place on this crew, and he liked knowing he could pull his own weight and actually added something to the team. As he focused harder on the panels in front of him, he managed to slip back into mindlessly completing his work. 

He didn’t even realize someone else had walked in behind him until he felt the sharp pain in his lower back.

Ethan gasped in pain. He could feel his attacker remove the blade before stabbing him again. Ethan coughed and watched with hazy vision as blood from his mouth splattered against the screen. He couldn’t register the pain after the third or fourth stab. He had lost count.

When his attacker stepped back and let go of him, Ethan felt his legs give out and he fell down, his face smacking the cool floor. He tried to angle his head to see who had attacked him.

All he could say as he watched his killer climb into a vent off to the side was “Oh. It’s you,” in a weak, raspy voice. 

Ethan closed his eyes and wondered if this was how Oliver felt when he died.

**********

Ten crew mates had gathered in the cafeteria once more. Chris was shaking. Link had a hand on Chris’ shoulder, trying to comfort him. After all, Chris had found both bodies.

“Chris, where was Ethan’s body?” Celine asked. She had her binder open and her pen ready.

Chris opened his mouth to answer, but he couldn’t form words. “The reactor room,” Link answered for him. “We both were returning from the communications room and went to check on Ethan when we found...”

“Why’d you leave security?” Violet asked.

“The cameras went down,” Link explained. “We thought it was just a typical fail, easy to fix. We realized afterwards that someone wanted to take out the cameras so they could... so they could kill Ethan.”

“We told him we’d be right back,” Chris whispered. “He was alive, and then I left my post, and now he’s dead.”

“I walked him to the reactor room and told him I’d check on him after I finished my task,” Lillie said, her voice shaking. “If I had just worked faster, I could’ve stopped it.”

“Where was everyone else?” Celine asked.

“I never left weapons,” Ash said. “Amy can vouch for me. She brought me lunch since no one was stationed at shields.”

Amy nodded. “I ate with Ash in weapons and went back to the navigation room. I did see Charlie over by the O2 filter on my way down, so I’m pretty sure they’re clear too.”

“I was in the med bay, like always,” Violet said. “I left to grab lunch, ate with Celine, refilled my coffee, and went straight back to the med bay.”

“I did eat with Violet,” Celine confirmed. “When I finished my meal I went down through storage to check on Lillie since I knew she was having some difficulties with the engines. I saw Link and Chris coming back from communications after that.”

Charlie sighed. “I was awake in O2 like Amy said. I was picking out the dead leaves from the filter. I wasn’t too hungry so I stayed in O2 the whole time.”

“I was still in here, cleaning up trash,” Morgan said. “Sean stayed behind to help out.”

Sean nodded. “I never left the cafeteria after lunch.”

“How the fuck did this happen again?” Ash asked, slamming his fist down onto the table. “What kind of sick fuck is here killing kids while their back is turned?”

Celine frowned. “I don’t know, Ash,” she sighed. “All I know is we’ve all said our piece, so now it’s time to vote.”

Everyone looked around the table. In the last two days, two people have been murdered, and now they had to decide whether or not they should vote for someone and send them out into space to die. Get it right, and no one else has to die. Get it wrong though, and suddenly the entire crew has blood on their hands and the killings continue. 

Celine clicked her pen. “Who would like to begin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, voting lasts for 1 week after a new chapter is posted. You can choose to skip as well.
> 
> Crew mates that are still alive to vote for:
> 
> • Chris (Blue)  
> • Celine (Black)  
> • Link (Dark Green)  
> • Violet (Purple)  
> • Charlie (Lime Green)  
> • Lillie (Pink)  
> • Ash (Red)  
> • Amy (White)  
> • Sean (Brown)  
> • Morgan (Orange)


	3. Chapter 3

10 crew members were still alive. All of them, save for Chris who was still staring off at nothing, looked around the table at one another. It was clear in a few of their eyes what needed to be done. They had let Oliver’s killer walk free, and now Ethan was dead. They couldn’t let this continue.

“My vote hasn’t changed,” Ash said, starting everyone off. “Violet, you voted for Link last time despite not having enough evidence to pin it on him.”

“Enough evidence?” Violet asked, her tone sharp. “I provided a solid reasoning behind my vote at the time!”

“But why vote at all last round?” Ash asked. “Everyone else skipped. I only voted for you, because it seemed suspicious that you would try and throw someone else under the bus without knowing for sure. You do realize that if we vote wrong, we’ll end up killing an innocent person, right?”

“Of course I realize that!” Violet snapped. “So why are you trying to pin it on me?”

“Because I don’t think you’re innocent.”

Violet paused. She had been so angry before, but now she was just confused. Ash’s vote last time was more of an annoyance, but now he actually thinks she could be the murderer?

Ash turned his head towards Celine. “Mark my vote down for Violet.”

It was so quiet in the cafeteria that everyone could hear Celine’s pen scratch against the paper and she marked down one vote for Violet.

Link shook his head. “No, I’m not- I don’t want to be part of this.”

“Link, two of our crew mates are dead,” Sean said softly.

“I know that. But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna get blood on my own hands. I’m skipping.”

Celine marked down Link’s vote and set her pen down. “I’m going to start by saying that just because I’m the captain of this ship does not mean any of you are required or expected to vote the same as I do. I also want to make it clear that I’m attempting to look at this from an outside perspective. I know that a lot of us are close, and we don’t want to think anyone here is capable of murder, but unfortunately that is not the case here. That being said, I myself am voting for Morgan.”

Sean slammed his fist against the table while Morgan just stared at Celine.

“Wh-why me?” Morgan choked out. 

“Why the fuck are ye trying to pin it on Morgan, I said they were with me in the cafeteria after lunch!” Sean snapped.

“I don’t feel right skipping again,” Celine started to explain. “I think it’d be dangerous to skip after two people have died. I’m voting for Morgan because I have been patrolling this ship all day and not once did I see them apart from lunch.”

“But they were with me the entire time after lunch!” Sean argued.

“And how can I trust that you’re not lying to protect your friend, Sean?” Celine asked.

Morgan shook their head. “I- I didn’t- I would never!”

“If you are innocent, I am truly sorry,” Celine said, her tone softening up a bit. “But my vote still stands.” She put a mark next to Morgan’s name and looked up. “Anyone else?”

“I’m not lying to protect Morgan,” Sean said, glaring at Celine. “I am starting to wonder though if ye only voted for them to protect Violet.”

“I told you, I’m trying to look at this from an unbiased position,” Celine calmly argued.

“Ye tried, but ye failed,” Sean snapped. “I’m voting for Violet.”

“Why isn’t anyone defending me?” Violet asked, her voice shaking. “You don’t honestly think I killed them, do you?”

“I do,” Chris said, speaking up. “I do think you killed them. Or at least Ethan.”

“Are you implying there’s a second killer on the loose?” Violet asked, snapping at Chris. 

“I don’t know at this point,” Chris admitted. “All I know is I’ve walked in on two dead bodies now. I don’t want to walk in on another. I’m voting for Violet.”

“I’m skipping,” Morgan said, immediately following Chris. 

Celine marked down both Chris and Morgan’s vote before directing her attention back on the orange clad crew mate. “So far there’s three votes against Violet, one against Morgan, and two have opted to skip.”

“Three have opted to skip,” Amy corrected. “I’m skipping. I don’t think we have enough evidence to pin this on anyone, and I don’t want to get it wrong.”

“I’m skipping as well,” Violet said. Three votes against her, but her vote to skip kept her safe for now. All she could do after casting her own vote was hope that Lillie and Charlie believed her. 

Charlie sighed and rubbed a hand down their face. “I don’t want to carry a third body down to the morgue. I’m really, really sorry if you’re innocent, but I have to vote for you, Violet.”

A tie. Four skipping, four against Violet. Morgan only had one vote against them, so they were for sure safe. Violet’s life was in Lillie’s hands at this point. Everyone remained quiet. Lillie slowly raised her head and took a shaky breath.

“I don’t want Oliver and Ethan’s killer to get away with this,” Lillie said softly. “Which is why I’m voting for Violet.”

Violet swore her heart stopped right then and there for a moment. Lillie had just signed her death warrant. Sweet, little Lillie.

“Why?” Violet asked, struggling to keep her voice steady. 

“You don’t seem bothered by any of this,” Lillie explained. “My two best friends are dead, but you’re still acting like nothing is wrong. It’s unsettling. It’s almost like you don’t care that they’re dead.”

“I do care,” Violet whispered. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She told them she never left med bay, why wasn’t anybody believing her?

Lillie frowned and lowered her head. “I don’t believe you. My vote is for Violet.”

Celine put a second tally next to Violet’s name and that was that. Violet’s hands began to shake no matter how hard she tried to still them. Her throat felt as if it were on fire and her stomach twisted up. It took everything she had not to throw up her lunch. She had been so concerned about being murdered behind closed doors, she hadn’t considered the possibility of her fellow crew mates booting her out and killing her themselves.

Violet may have lost the vote, but she hadn’t lost her dignity. “Now what?” She asked. There was no hiding the fear in her voice, but what did it matter now?

“You shall be escorted to your room,” Celine began to explain. “Once there, you will have an hour. Write a final farewell, make peace with what’s about to happen, repent for the murders you’ve been accused of- however you want to spend that time is up to you. A final meal will be brought to you. After the hour is up though, you shall be escorted in your EMU to the airlock. There you will be allowed to say any last words you have before being ejected into space, where you will float until the oxygen in your suit runs out.”

A slow, dragged out death. “Can I ask the murderer to just kill me instead?” Violet joked humorlessly. No one laughed. Violet stood up as Celine closed her binder. “Alright then. Take me away.”

***********

Violet picked up her helmet and stared at her former crew mates. They had voted her off. Some of them stood by and refused to skip or vote, not wanting to give any sort of opinion. She understood. This was a scary situation they had been faced with, and her former crew mates did the best that they could with what information they had.

“Do you have any final statements or farewells you’d like to offer up?” Celine asked. Violet had to fight back her own laughter. Every morning she brought Celine a cup of coffee while waiting for her samples. Out of everyone on The Skeld, Violet felt safe in calling Celine a friend, even now as she was about to send Violet out into space. Is that why Celine didn’t vote for her? Did Celine consider her a friend too?

Violet’s grip on her helmet tightened as she looked into the small group. “I just want to say thank you to Link, Morgan, Amy, and Celine for not voting for me. Everyone else, I’d like to say I’m sorry. Not for killing Oliver and Ethan, because I didn’t do that. No, I’m sorry that you all heard Ash yell some nonsense, like he always does, and assumed that because he was loud he was correct.”

No one said anything. That surprised Violet. She half expected Ash to shove her into the air lock himself after that kind of insult, but the red clad crew mate held his ground and his composure. He honestly thought he was right.

“The killings won’t stop,” Violet continued. “I may not survive long out there in space, but you all won’t survive long in here if you can’t pull your heads out of your asses and figure out how they’re getting away with this.”

“You have it all figured out, don’t you?” Ash asked, finally breaking his silence. “If it’s not you, then who is it?”

“You don’t actually want me to answer that,” Violet said, frowning. “Even if I did know the answer, you wouldn’t believe me. If you trusted what I said, you wouldn’t have voted for me. But sure, let’s humor the idea that you trusted my word for a moment. Why would I give you a real name? Half of you voted for me. Ash, you started my witch-hunt. I could say you did it to throw suspicion off of yourself. I could blame Chris since he found both bodies. I could even blame Lillie since she was the last one to see both Oliver and Ethan alive.”

“Do you have a point to this?” Ash asked, cutting her off.

Violet chuckled. “My point is my answer means little to nothing. I gave you some food for thought. Reflect on what I said, figure out how they’re getting around and killing without being noticed, and finish the mission. If not for me, finish it for Oliver and Ethan.”

She turned her attention towards Lillie. There was a look on her face that Violet couldn’t quite place. “You said I didn’t seem to care that your friends died,” Violet said, speaking directly to Lillie. “I just wanted to tell you before I go and die for a crime I didn’t commit that you’re wrong.”

Violet exhaled and put on her helmet. She turned her attention back to Celine and nodded once. “I’m ready, Captain.”

Celine opened the first set of doors to the airlock. Violet stepped backwards through them. She wasn’t going to look away from the people that sentenced her. She was going to stand strong and stare them down. She was happy that her helmet was on to hide the tears that began flowing freely as the airlock doors shut. 

Death wasn’t something Violet ever gave much thought about. She wasn’t even in her thirties yet. Her death seemed like such a far off concept, and yet here she was, about to be ejected into space. A small part of her wanted to fall to her knees and beg for her life. Plea and sob and scream that she was innocent. It wouldn’t work though, and she didn’t want to give Ash the pleasure of watching her break down on death’s door.

That was cruel. As loud and annoying as the red clad crew mate was, Violet knew he had just been doing what he thought was best. As tough as he appeared to be, she knew it was all a show. Deep down, he was scared of winding up in the airlock just like her.

Violet didn’t like that some of her final thoughts would be her comparing herself to Ash, but it was too late for her to backtrack. Celine hit the button, and the last thing Violet saw before getting sucked into the void of space were two pairs of eyes trained directly on her, appearing more eager than the rest, lips curled up in sinister smirks subtle enough to go unnoticed by the rest of the crew. Two of them were excited to watch her get sucked into space.

As her body was ripped from The Skeld, Violet found herself suddenly panicking, but not for herself, rather the safety of her former crew mates. Of course, as soon as she lost the ability to communicate to them, she discovered such crucial information.

Two imposters remained on The Skeld.

**********

A week went by without any incidents. The original brew of twelve was down to nine, but after a week with no murders, everyone was starting to feel comfortable again. No one spoke about it, but everyone was beginning to suspect that they had been correct in voting off Violet. 

“I decided to move some of you around,” Celine said as she handed out everyone’s daily task folders. “Don’t be afraid to come and ask for help if you’re unsure how to properly complete your task.”

Ash flipped his folder open and scoffed. “Stuck in a damn chair all day. Anyone want security duty?”

Charlie began to raise their hand, but a sharp glare from their captain stopped them.

“No switching. I want everyone to be comfortable in different spots,” Celine said firmly. 

“Well who’s taking my spot on weapons then?” Ash asked, clearly annoyed. After that day where he almost overheated the reactor, he didn’t like the idea of moving outside of his comfort zone.

“I am,” Celine answered. “You are to keep a close eye on the cameras in security. We don’t want another incident.”

“But Vi-“ Morgan started, but stopped themself. “I mean, we voted the murderer out, right? You don’t think we were wrong, do you?”

Everyone glanced between one another. Violet was gone, they should feel safe. So why did the tension in the room feel so uneasy?

Amy stood up and grabbed her folder. “I’m going to see if I can figure out what exactly Violet was working on with her samples,” she said before hurrying off to the med bay room. 

Slowly, everyone else began to collect their folders and head off to get a start on whatever their task was for the day. Celine headed straight to weapons, Ash headed straight to the security room, and the rest of the crew hung around to gather in groups.

Link, Chris, and Sean all had their folders open and were discussing times to check in on each other. 

“I’m pretty much stuck in navigation the whole time,” Chris said. 

“I’m on trash duty, so I’ll be able to swing by and check on ye when I go to O2,” Sean said, jotting that down on his schedule.

Link nodded. “I’m downloading some data and doing a wire check, so I’ll be able to check in too. Plus, Ash is on cams. We should be fine.”

Close by, Charlie, Lillie, and Morgan were all discussing their daily tasks together as well. It was a little more difficult for them to decide on a good plan, with Lillie stuck in shields and Morgan stuck in the reactor room, but Charlie agreed to check on them every time they did a fuel run. They were going to survive this mission.

On their way to the reactor, Morgan popped their head into the med bay to check in on Amy. The white clad crew mate was busy organizing thin, glass vials onto a tray. They were all full of a weird blue liquid that Morgan didn’t recognize. Then again, Celine didn’t trust them to not break anything in the med bay, so they never got scheduled down there.

“Knock, knock,” Morgan said, tapping their knuckles against the wall.

Amy flinched, but quickly recovered once she realized who it was. “Jeez, Morgan! You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Morgan mumbled. “Just wanted to make sure you made it here safely.”

Amy sighed and slid the vial tray into this strange contraption on the wall. She hit a button and suddenly the machine began adding a drop of clear liquid to the vials.

“I appreciate you coming to check on me,” Amy smiled. “Where are you today?”

“Reactor. I thought you and Celine did the schedules together?”

Amy shook her head. “No, she’s halted my training for the moment.”

That was news to Morgan. “How come?”

“It’s a safety precaution. What if I’m actually the murderer? Celine doesn’t want to take any chances.”

“Any chances with what?” Morgan asked.

Amy sighed. “Basically, if I was the murderer and I was also the one helping make the schedules, I could suggest certain people work in certain areas with little to no camera coverage. It’s safer for everyone if Celine is the only one assigning tasks.”

“But Violet’s gone. Why is Celine still worried about a murderer on the ship?”

“I don’t think Violet killed Oliver or Ethan,” Amy said, crossing her arms in a defensive stance. “She might’ve had an attitude problem at times, but she wasn’t a bad person.”

Morgan didn’t want to argue. Amy was one of the kindest people on the Skeld, but when she believed in something, she’d defend it till the end. Morgan wouldn’t be able to win a fight against her, and they didn’t want to try over such a sensitive topic. Instead, Morgan just nodded, told Amy to stay safe, and left to go to their spot at the reactor. Amy watched them leave before turning back to her samples. The timer was going down which was good. That meant everything was working how it was supposed to. There was still a good forty minutes left on the countdown though, so Amy decided to go an grab a cup of coffee from the cafeteria.

She didn’t mean to fall into Violet’s old routine, but when Amy realized she had poured an extra cup on instinct, she could help but smile sadly at the two drinks. Instead of letting it go to waste, Amy grabbed both cups and headed towards the admin office. Since Celine had paused her training, Amy rarely get a chance to check in on her good friend. Was this why Violet always brought Celine coffee? Did she just miss her friend?

Amy shook her head and opened the admin door. She tried to push the depressing thoughts from her head and focus back on the present. When she saw that the office was empty though, she mentally slapped herself for being so stupid. Celine said she would be in weapons today. Amy turned to leave, but when she went to open the door, she realized it had locked behind her. 

“What the heck?” She muttered to herself. She tried pushing harder, but the door wouldn’t budge. She even set the coffees down and tried forcing it open by slamming her whole body against it to no avail. 

Amy was so distracted by trying to get the door to open, she never heard the person creep up behind her. She gasped when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her head and neck. She tried reaching up to pull the arms off of her, but the voice that hushed her in an attempt to sooth the trapped crew mate sent a chill down Amy’s spine. 

“It’s nothing personal,” the person whispered in Amy’s ear just before snapping her neck.

********

Celine called the meeting before lunch. The alarm that rang throughout the Skeld was a noise the crew mates thought they’d never heard again. They all gathered around the table with baited breath, anxious to see who wouldn’t be joining them. Chris looked around the table for a moment before turning his attention to Celine.

“Where’s Amy?” He asked.

“Locations,” Celine said, ignoring Chris.

“What?” Link asked.

“Amy’s dead,” Celine answered bluntly. “What was everyone’s location?”

Morgan had to stop themselves from throwing up. They had just talked to Amy about an hour ago. There’s no way she could really be-

“The fuck your mean Amy’s dead?” Ash shouted, standing up immediately. 

“Her neck was snapped in the office. Now, everyone tell me where you were,” Celine said through her teeth. 

“I was on cams like you fucking asked, and no one went into the fucking room with Amy!” Ash snapped. 

Lillie had begun crying, but managed to choke out “Shields,” before breaking down into sobs.

“Chris and I were in navigation,” Link whispered. He couldn’t believe Amy was actually dead. Everyone on the ship loved Amy. So why?

“We voted out Violet, so how is Amy dead?” Charlie asked.

“Her neck was snapped,” Celine said.

“I was in storage running trash,” Sean said. 

“I can vouch for Sean,” Charlie chimed in. “I saw him while I was getting fuel for the engines.”

Morgan took a shaky breath. “I stopped by the med bay to check on Amy before heading to the reactor.”

Ash nodded. “I saw Amy leave the med bay after Morgan. I can clear them.”

“I was in the weapons room,” Celine began to explain. “I went down to the admin office to make sure the data Link was downloading was transferring properly, and that’s when I found Amy.”

She looked around the table, a hard look in her eyes. “Someone here is lying, the question is who. Voting starts now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crew mates still alive:
> 
> • Ash (Red)  
> • Link (Dark Green)  
> • Lillie (Pink)  
> • Celine (Black)  
> • Chris (Blue)  
> • Charlie (Lime Green)  
> • Morgan (Orange)  
> • Sean (Brown)
> 
> Voting is open for 1 week :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to apologize for the long wait. My laptop I use for online classes suddenly stopped working, so I had to rearrange my schedule to do all of my school work on campus before going to my actual job. That, and I recently got into a relationship, so I’ve been spending a lot of my off days with my girlfriend. 
> 
> That being said, I’m going to try and keep up with the chapters. Hopefully I won’t take as long as this again, but just know I have no intentions on discontinuing this fic. I’m having a lot of fun with it, and I will try and get chapters out weekly again. Thank you for your patience!

The table was silent. Violet had warned them they had been wrong to vote her off, and now Amy was dead. Ash was quiet, focused. He kept replaying what Violet had said before she had been ejected into space over and over again in his head. She might not have know who the killer was herself, but something she mentioned stuck out the most to Ash.

“I’m voting for Lillie,” he said suddenly.

The pink clad crew mate had been crying before but now her eyes were wide and focused on Ash. “What? I was in shields! I was nowhere near Amy!”

Ash shook his head. “No, I mean- yes, you were nowhere near Amy. I don’t think you killed her.”

“Then why me?”

“Something Violet said before she was ejected,” Ash muttered. “She mentioned you were the last person to see Oliver and Ethan alive. With Oliver, you could’ve killed him when you went to check on him. Pretend to be upset so no one suspects you when Chris called the meeting, and get away with murder. Same with Ethan. No one was in the security office when Ethan died. The cameras were down. Not too hard for you to walk up from your position and stab him in the back.”

Everyone was staring at Lillie now. She laughed in disbelief and shook her head. “You honestly think I’d kill my two best friends? And what, if you don’t think I killed Amy, are you suggesting that there’s two murderers here?”

Ash shrugged. “I don’t know, Lillie. Wanna tell us who your partner in crime is?”

“I was starting to suspect there was two killers,” Chris chimed in. “It would make sense, Oliver and Ethan were both stabbed in the back, but Amy’s neck was broken. Two different methods of killing.”

“Chris, you don’t believe what Ash is saying, do you?” Lillie asked, her voice sounding desperate. 

Chris stared at her. It was so hard to believe that Lillie was capable of murder, but the evidence was there. “Put my vote down for Lillie too.”

“Celine! You vouched for me when Ethan died!” Lillie said, turning her attention to their captain. “You have to tell them I didn’t kill Amy!”

“No one has blamed you for killing Amy,” Charlie spoke up. “They’re blaming you for Oliver and Ethan. And I am too. My vote is for Lillie.”

Celine marked down three tallies next to Lillie’s name. Link stared at Lillie, his heart heavy in his chest. “Lillie, look me in the eyes and tell me you didn’t kill Oliver or Ethan.”

“I didn’t kill Oliver or Ethan.”

Link but his lip and lowered his head, trying to hide the tears that began to pool up in the corners of his eyes. “I vote for Lillie.”

“I thought this was a trial for Amy!” Lillie snapped. She didn’t look upset anymore, just angry.

“My vote is for Lillie,” Sean said.

Morgan nodded their head slowly. “Mine too.”

Lillie stared in disbelief as Celine marked down the final tallies. “My vote goes to Lillie as well,” she said. Seven votes against the pink crew mate. Lillie chuckled and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Well, guess that’s that,” she said, shrugging nonchalantly. “It was fun while it lasted.”

“Do you need me to remind you about what’s going to happen next?” Celine asked.

“Nah, why wait?” Lillie asked. “Just lemme change into my suit and we can get this show on the road”.

It was eerie watching Lillie. It was as of her personality had done a complete one-eighty since her fate was sealed. She was smiling a bit too wide. Her eyes had this strange tint to them that felt just a little off. 

“Ye seem rather chipper for someone who just got sentenced to death via space void,” Sean commented.

“What can I say? You caught me,” Lillie shrugged.

“So you admit it?” Ash asked.

“Why hide it? Doesn’t change my fate. I’m gonna die in space all ‘cause I was sloppy. That’s on me,” she answered. “I mean, it did take you guys awhile to figure it out, but still. I thought the crying kid act would work a little longer, but oh well. Whatchu gonna do?”

“Why?!” Charlie shouted, punching the table. Everyone flinched at their sudden anger. Charlie wasn’t one to raise their voice, so to see them so upset... no one could blame them.

Lillie just grinned. “You guys have your mission, I had mine.”

“Do you know who killed Amy?” Chris asked.

“Oh yeah, but that’s not anything I’m willing to share.”

“Newsflash, kid, everyone here voted for your sorry ass, including whoever your partner is,” Ash snapped. “So why protect them?”

Lillie’s smile was unnaturally wide. “Exactly. Everyone voted for me. Good luck figuring out who the other imposter is.”

That one sentence sent a chill down six of the crew mate’s spines. Lillie had killed two people and was about to die as consequence, but they still didn’t know who killed Amy. Not only that, but now it was clear Violet had been innocent. They had voted off someone and blamed them for crimes they didn’t commit, and Violet paid for those crimes with her life.

“How could you kill your two best friends?” Link asked, his voice hushed. He sounded like he was afraid to hear the answer.

“Oliver was easy,” Lillie started. “He was alone in electrical and you all weren’t even thinking about potential murder, so it wasn’t too hard for me to stab him and ditch. Ethan was just good timing. The cameras were out so I knew I had a few minutes at least.”

Link squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. “No, no, I mean how could you just kill people that you considered friends?”

Lillie paused for a moment, not fully understanding the question. She suddenly blinked though in realization and smiled. “Oh! You still think I’m the same Lillie that you met at basic training before this mission!” She laughed and waved Link off. “Confused me for a minute there.”

“Where’s our Lillie?” Morgan asked, their voice stern.

“Dead,” fake Lillie said bluntly. “She never stepped foot on this ship.” She stood up and grinned. “Looks like I’m about to join her. I’m ready for my send off, captain! We’re done here.”

*******

Lillie didn’t fear death. She knew when she first agreed to the assignment that she might not come back alive. Plus, if she had to pick a way to go out, dying in the void that was space seemed nice. Maybe it was weird to be so calm staring certain death in the face, but Lillie was oddly happy. She didn’t have to pretend to be that emotional little crybaby anymore. She had successfully killed two crew mates and helped get someone voted off. No one could say she didn’t pull her weight on this mission. She’d die a hero.

“Any last words?” Celine asked. Lillie shifted the weight of her helmet in her hands as she stared out at the rest of the crew. She was careful to not let her eyes linger too long on any particular person, in case a crew mate was watching for that sort of thing. Lillie wasn’t dumb. She wasn’t about to give anything away in regards to who her partner was.

“All I can say is it’s been an honor,” Lillie said. “I’m sad that I won’t be able to finish my mission, but hopefully I made it a little easier to be completed by someone else.”

“This is your last chance to tell us who your partner is,” Chris said, glaring at Lillie.

Lillie sighed and put her helmet on. “Fine. If you really want to know, it’s Ash.”

Ash didn’t even flinch at the sound of his name. Violet had mentioned before she died how they shouldn’t trust what she says since she has reasoning to throw specific people under the bus. A few of the crew mates shifted uneasily, but none of them seemed to take what Lillie said seriously. 

Celine opened the air lock doors and Lillie stepped back and sat down as the doors closed in front of her. She crossed her legs and smiled behind her mask, taking in the fear in several people’s eyes. One of them was clearly trying to mask their disappointment, and Lillie wished she could tell them it’d be okay, but it was too late for that. It was too late for anything.

The doors behind Lillie opened up and suddenly she was sucked out of the Skeld. She spun around aimlessly with nothing to stop her motion. It became hard for her to hold her imposter form the more she spun. Her teeth sharpened and her tongue grew to a point that she struggled to keep inside her mouth. Her skin faded to its natural pink color and her jaw unhinged. 

As she floated out further into space, Lillie took comfort in the fact that she was finally herself again. Even if she failed, the mission could still be a success.

After all, there was still one imposter left.

*******

The news that the Lillie they knew back in basic training and the Lillie that had been on the Skeld with them for the last few weeks were two different people shook the crew to the core. Before, they had assumed they were looking for a crew mate that had gone insane, or someone was seeking revenge or something. But now everything they knew was out the window. It wasn’t just murderers they were after, it was imposters. Creatures that could morph and take the form of people the crew knew very well, and blend in with ease.

Their simple deep space mission suddenly became a lot more deadly than they thought.

Breakfast time and morning meetings were quiet. None of the crew mates really spoke to one another. Chris, Link, Sean, and Morgan would eat together, but apart from a side glance or a pressed smile, they didn’t really acknowledge each other. How could they trust one another for sure? 

Ash and Celine ate together as well, neither one of them bringing up their mutual friend, Amy. Charlie was the only one to eat alone, but they had always been more of a loner. 

What started as a crew of 12 was now down to just seven, with one of them being an imposter. While it had been several days since Amy’s murder and Lillie’s ejection, there was still someone lurking aboard the Skeld, dead set on offing the rest of the crew.

Celine’s instructions every morning were brief. She’d only say a few words after handing out task folders before returning to her office. She rarely left anymore. Ash would often have to go in and bring her lunch during their break time just to make sure she ate something. 

No one moved positions around anymore. Celine wanted people to stick with what they knew. Since they were down several people and morale was at an all time low, the main goal, besides staying alive, was making sure the basic tasks were done every day.

Ash was on weapons duty. Since no one could be planted down in shields at the moment, he was their best shot at keeping astroids at bay.

Chris was moved officially to Amy’s old position. He had previous crew experience and scored the third highest on the navigation portion during basic training, only behind Amy and Celine.

Morgan stayed over in the reactor room. They weren’t as knowledgeable as Ethan had been, but they knew enough to keep the thing from over heating, and they knew the cool down process in case of emergencies.

Sean moved around, being made responsible for both cleaning out the O2 filter and running trash. In between those tasks, he was also required to refuel the engines. He didn’t mind the physical labor. The movement kept his mind distracted.

Charlie on the other hand was happy to be planted in security. Before, they would always take it as an opportunity to nap, but now they were just happy to have a comfortable chair to relax in while they kept an eye out.

Link was also moving around a lot. Unfortunately, whenever communications got knocked out before Ethan died, something happened and the additional cameras he had set up all malfunctioned, leaving them with only the original cameras. He was still in charge of checking for wiring issues though.

Link was just outside of the navigation room double checking the wire panel. Chris got up from his spot and walked over, leaning against the wall for support while he watched Link work.

“How are you holding up?” Chris asked.

Link just shrugged. “I’m alive. Can’t really ask for much more these days. You?”

“Same.” Chris paused for a moment while he watched Link pull two different colored wires out from the wall. “Remember when you asked me if I knew why you joined this mission?”

“Yeah,” Link sighed. “Honestly, how I worded that and the timing of all of this was horrible. Do you think it’s me?”

Chris shook his head. “No, I don’t actually think it’s you. I was just curious since you never gave me a real answer.”

Link chuckled and cut one of the wires out of the panel. It was busted beyond repair and needed to be replaced at that point. “It’s kinda stupid, not gonna lie.”

“I can handle stupid.”

“Good to know,” Link muttered. He set down his tool and turned his attention to Chris. “Like you said, I’ve work on other ships before this one. I always wanted to join a crew and fly in one of the ships I helped build, but I could never make it through the basic training. I hated a lot of the people there, so I never finished.”

“What made this crew different?” Chris asked.

Link chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “Honestly, you did. Watching you come back from your missions, you always seemed so sincere, like you actually enjoyed your work. You just seemed like a pleasant person overall, so I decided that if we got put into basic training together, I’d stick it out, no matter how much I hated the rest of the crew.”

Link shrugged. “The fact that I managed to click with Sean and Morgan too was nice. Lillie, er, the real Lillie, was super sweet too. I guess I was just happy to finally find people that I could vibe with.”

“And now you’re stuck on a ship in the middle of deep space with a shape shifting imposter made to look like one of our friends,” Chris frowned. “Was it still worth signing up?”

“As long as you’re not the imposter, I’d say it was worth it.”

Chris chuckled. “How are you staying so... I don’t want to say cheery, but I’m impressed you’re managing to keep looking on the bright side of things. I guess that’s how I’d word it.”

Link shrugged as he worked to reattach the panel. “I don’t know. I guess it’s because of what Lillie, imposter Lillie, said. Before, it was troubling to think that someone we all considered a friend could kill one of us. Now though, since we know it’s not really our friends... I don’t know, it’s an oddly comforting thought.”

“I kind of get it,” Chris said. “It’s nice knowing that your actual friends aren’t betraying your trust and plotting to kill you. Instead, it’s just a stranger who can shape-shift to look like your friends.”

Link nodded. “Exactly.” He screwed in the last of the screws and wiped the sweat from his brow. “I have to go check the wiring in security. Come find me if there’s trouble, okay?”

As Link turned to leave, Chris reached out and grabbed his arm. He hesitated for a moment, not entirely sure what to say. “Just... be careful, okay?”

Link nodded, staring at Chris’ hand on his arm. After a moment, the blue clad crew mate let go and hurried back to his seat in navigation. Link took a second to compose himself before heading over towards the security room. It sucked that security was on the opposite side of the Skeld, but Link would rather move around than be stuck in a chair for several hours.

When he finally made it to the hallway containing both the reactor room and the security room, Link decided to pop his head in to check on Morgan. They had their back to the door, obviously focusing on the panel in front of them. Not wanting to startle them, Link cleared his throat before speaking.

“Everything okay here, Morgan?”

Morgan barely turned their hand in acknowledgement. “Yeah, I’m good. Sean came by earlier too to check in- Oh!” They spun around to properly face Link. “Can you check on Charlie? I’ve been going over after every task, but I’m kinda stuck on this one. I wanna make sure they’re okay.”

“Yeah, I was about to go check the wiring outside of security anyway,” Link said, pointing behind him with his thumb. “Just yell if you need anything.”

Morgan nodded and turned back to their task. Link stepped out and crossed the hall to peak into security. Charlie spun around in their chair right as Link walked in. It was weird to see Charlie taking their job in security so seriously. Normally they’d be asleep either at the desk or under it.

“Saw you coming in,” Charlie confirmed, gesturing to the screens behind them.

Link nodded once. “Figured. You all good?”

“Yeah, it’s been surprisingly quiet. I’m not complaining, but it’s still weird.”

“I get that. I’m gonna right outside your door, so yell if you need anything.”

Charlie gave a thumbs up before turning back to the security cams. Link stepped back out into the hallway and began unscrewing the panel. All of the wiring errors made sense now too. If there were imposters aboard the ship, then they’d try and sabotage operations as well. Easier to kill someone if they’re distracted.

Suddenly, everything was pitch black, the lights all cutting off at once. The timing would’ve been hilarious if the situation wasn’t so horrifying. Thankfully, every crew mate carried a flashlight on them. Link grabbed his and clicked it on right as Charlie came out holding theirs.

“Was that you?” Charlie asked, staring at the removed wire panel at Link’s feet.

“No, these wires don’t affect the lights,” Link said. “Must’ve been a failure in electrical.”

“The breaker is the first box inside right?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m gonna go see if I can get the lights back on,” Charlie said, walking past Link. “If you see anything or anyone suspicious, scream.” With that, Charlie hurried off and Link watched them until he could no longer see the light from their flashlight. As much as Link wanted to accompany Charlie over to electrical, he knew he couldn’t trust anyone on the Skeld. Not really, at least. Even going across the hall to make sure Morgan was okay could be a death wish.

Thankfully, Charlie got the lights back on rather quickly. Link sighed in relief before pocketing his flashlight. He decided to wait for Charlie to come back, ignoring the exposed wires behind him. None of the issues in that section were critical anyway. They could wait. 

Charlie came back and Link nodded towards the reactor room. “Safety in numbers, at least when the lights are on. Come with me to check on Morgan?”

The pair crossed the hall and walked into the reactor room. Surprisingly, Morgan wasn’t at the panel in the middle of the room like earlier. Link frowned and stepped further into the room. He turned to the right and froze. 

Laying over the vent was Morgan. Their neck, like Amy’s, had been snapped. The lifeless glaze that covered their eyes almost caused Link to loose his lunch. Charlie ran over and stared at the body.

Link coughed, trying to keep himself from getting sick. “C-call the meeting.”

*******

Sean was a mess. Link and Ash had to hold him down in his seat as he screamed at the table. Chris and Charlie watched, both of them numb from the sudden death. Celine just stared at the brown clad crew mate, waiting for him to calm down so she could begin the meeting.

“Sean, I understand you’re upset-“

“FUCK YOU!” Sean spat. “YOU LET ‘EM BE IN THAT ROOM ALONE EVEN THOUGH ETHAN GOT KILLED THERE TOO!”

Celine’s gaze hardened, but she kept her mouth shut. Sean and Morgan had been close, so his reaction wasn’t unexpected. Then again, Lillie’s reaction to Oliver and Ethan’s deaths seemed realistic as well.

“If you calm your ass for a few minutes, we can figure out who their killer is,” Ash hissed, trying to hold Sean down.

Sean cursed, but stayed still in his seat. Link let go of his friend’s arm, but Ash kept a hand on the angry crew mate, just in case.

Celine sighed and opened her binder. “I was in the admin office the entire time. I only left when the lights went out to go check out the issue, but they came back on before I made it to electrical.”

“O2,” Sean spat. “I did a trash run, went and checked on Morgan in reactor, and I ended up in O2 to clean out the filter.”

Ash nodded. “I can vouch for Sean, he walked by me in weapons on his way to O2.”

“And Morgan was alive when he left the reactor room,” Charlie confirmed.

“I was in navigation,” Chris said. “I only got up to talk to Link, but I never left the hallway.”

“Can also confirm that,” Charlie said.

“I was outside of security fixing the wires,” Link said. “When the lights went out, Charlie left to fix them and I stayed in the hallway. When they got back, we both went to check on Morgan, and that’s when...”

“Ye didn’t go in to check on ‘em when the lights went out?” Sean asked.

Link shook his head. “I know it sounds dumb, but I was honestly scared. We don’t know who the second imposter is. I- I didn’t want to be alone with someone else in a room when no one else knew I went there.”

Celine clicked her pen and stared at the group. “Who’d like to start the voting?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters still alive to vote for:  
> • Ash (Red)  
> • Link (Dark Green)  
> • Celine (Black)  
> • Charlie (Lime Green)  
> • Sean (Brown)  
> • Chris (Blue)
> 
> Voting is open for 1 week. Good luck!


	5. Chapter 5

“I’ll start!” Sean snapped, glaring directly at their dear Captain. “My vote is for Celine!”

All eyes were on Sean. He was certainly bold for voting for their Captain, but at the same time, it sounded purely out of rage. 

“You can’t just vote for her because you’re pissed off!” Ash argued.

“What, like when ye voted for Violet?” Sean countered.

“That was different! She was throwing around accusations and had a bad attitude about everything! Sorry for finding that suspicious.”

“My vote isn’t changing,” Sean said firmly.

Celine stared back at the brown clad crew mate before marking a check next to her own name. “I myself will be voting for Charlie,” she said, adding a check next to Charlie’s name without looking up.

“What the hell did I do?” Charlie asked.

“I just find it rather suspicious that you thought it would be best to leave your post at security to go try and fix the lights,” Celine explained. “You’ve proven to be a rather lazy crew mate, forgive my being blunt. So why you would willing leave to go do extra work instead of asking Link to go fix it is beyond me.”

“But Link was standing outside of the reactor room, he would’ve seen me go in even with the lights off.”

“Oh, that explanation is simple- you didn’t use the door, Charlie. You used the vents.”

That news got everyone’s attention. Chris was the first to ask what was on everyone’s mind. “The vents?”

Celine nodded. “There are a number of ventilation shafts that lead in and out of rooms. I looked deeper into the structure of The Skeld after we discovered Lillie was one of the imposters and I have reason to believe Lillie took advantage of the vents when making some of her kills.”

Charlie just laughed at Celine’s explanation. “I don’t know if you noticed, Captain, but I’m not exactly petite like Lillie was.”

“The form of Charlie isn’t, but Lillie revealed that you are shapeshifters,” Celine continued. “Who’s to say you didn’t shift into a smaller form to fit through the vents, kill Morgan, and then loop back around after fixing the lights?”

“That’s ridiculous, I can’t shape shift and magically fit into the vents because I’m not an imposter!” Charlie snapped.

“I’m voting Charlie too,” Ash said. “I’m sorry if it’s not you, but I trust Celine’s judgement.”

“Celine’s judgement is what got Morgan killed!” Sean argued. “She’s the one who put Morgan in the reactor room alone knowing that’s where Ethan was killed! Plus, she just admitted to knowing about the vents after Lillie got ejected, and she still assigned Morgan there!”

“Sean’s right,” Link said quietly. “The Celine we met back in basic training would never have knowingly put another crew mate in danger. I’m voting for Celine.”

“I am too,” Charlie added. “I know I’m innocent. You’re just trying to frame me for what you did.”

Celine’s eyes darted back and forth between her fellow crew mates. They were all staring directly at her. Ash looked visibly concerned, which was an odd look for him. Chris glanced down at the table, his eyes scrunched up as if he was mentally debating on what the right decision was.

“Chris,” Celine said. “If you vote for Charlie and tie it, then no one gets ejected and we can move on and collect more information. With an even number, I can pair people up now that I know the remaining imposter is taking advantage of the vents. No one else has to die.”

Chris shook his head. “I don’t think it’s Charlie. The good news is, Sean, Link, and Charlie all voted for you already, so as long as I don’t vote for Charlie, you’re the one being ejected.”

“If you vote for Charlie, the six of us live,” Celine pushed.

“And if I skip, then you get ejected and I don’t have to worry about lying awake at night feeling guilty for voting off my Captain,” Chris said. “So I’m sorry, but I’m skipping my vote. If you want to hand over power before you get ejected, that’d be beneficial, but since you’re the one who most likely killed Amy and Morgan, I doubt you’d want to make things easy for us.”

Celine didn’t bother writing down Chris’ vote. She sat there for a moment, surprised at how fast that went. Ash had been the only person to defend her. Sean on the other hand was the one who cast the first stone against her. He was the one who essentially got her killed. Chris too. He could’ve prevented this outcome, but he chose to sit back and let the other three sentence her to death.

“This is fucking ridiculous!” Ash snapped, slamming both of his hands on the table as he stood up. “You all seriously want to eject our fucking Captain into space? What the hell is wrong with you-”

Ash’s rant was cut short by a sharp foreign object shooting in between him and Sean. While they both tried to jump out of the way, Sean felt the sting on his cheek as the object pulled away. A trickle of blood dripped down from the cut and he quickly tried to figure out what the hell just happened.

Celine was standing, but she didn’t look like the Celine they knew. Her lips opened up a bit too wide now, as if they had been sliced further up. The foreign object that had cut Sean resembled a tongue that Celine curled back inside her mouth. Black marks resembling cracks crept up her hands and the pupils of her eyes widened until both of her eyes were solid black. They had all seen some horrible shit in the last few weeks, but nothing prepared them for the body horror that was their former Captain.

Without warning, Celine pulled a knife out from a back pouch on her suit and lunged across the table, aiming for Sean. With Lillie already gone, there was no reason for Celine to go quietly. If they wanted her dead, they had to work for it, and if she was as good as dead, she wanted to take as many of them down with her as she could.

Unfortunately for Celine, her blade never made contact. Ash and Link both tackled her without hesitation. The two crew mates managed to slam her onto the cafeteria floor, pinning her down while Charlie pulled Sean back, away from the imposter. Chris watched in shock as Link managed to disarm Celine while also keeping her pinned.

“Chris, storage room!” Ash snapped. “Find something to tie her up!”

Chris nodded before sprinting off down the hall. Charlie ran around the table to help Ash and Link keep the imposter down. Celine opened her mouth to attack again, but Charlie slammed his foot into her jaw, staining his shoe with blood from her mouth, but also preventing her attack.

“Why?” Sean asked, still keeping his distance since he was the one Celine wanted dead. “Why go through all of this trouble with the voting if ye wanted us dead from the start?”

Celine’s laugh was cold. Their Captain had been stern, even back in basic training, but the laugh that came from the imposter was bone chilling, devoid of any and all humanity. 

“We were outnumbered,” she laughed. “We were outnumbered and needed a way to sprinkle in seeds of doubt. I had you all vote in order to pin you all against one another.”

“But we voted out your partner and you,” Link cut in. “Not a great plan.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Celine said. “Our mission was more of a test run. A trial of sorts. We weren’t supposed to win. If we did, great! But neither Lillie or I expected to come back alive.”

“Why do you keep calling her Lillie?” Charlie asked. “We know she’s not the real deal. Neither are you.”

“You don’t get to know her real name,” Celine spat. “Your human ears don’t deserve to hear it. She died a hero to our people, as will I.”

“What exactly are you?” Ash asked. His eyes were full of rage, his grip tight on the imposter’s arm. 

“What we are doesn’t matter,” Celine said. “All that matters is we did what we were asked to.”

“And what were ye asked to do exactly?” Sean asked.

Celine’s smile was unnaturally wide. “We made first contact. You humans are quick to claim what you think is unowned and even quicker to dub yourselves as superior life forms. We were sent to either stop you in your tracks, or instill fear in the hopes that you all turn back and never return.”

Chris came running back in, an assortment of zip ties, rope, and duct tape in his arms. Charlie went to grab some of it from him while Ash and Link pulled Celine into a sitting position, forcing her arms behind her back. Charlie zip tied her wrists together before adding a few layers of duct tape.

“I guess you won’t be dying a hero, ‘cause your mission was a failure,” Ash said as he watched Charlie work. 

“How so?” Celine asked, her tone almost joyful like she didn’t believe a word he said.

“Unlike you, we’re going to complete our mission,” Ash explained. 

Celine laughed and Charlie mentally debated whether or not he should gag her. “That’s cute. What, you plan on landing on an alien planet with less than half your original crew and completing a twelve person job with only five crew mates and no Captain?”

“We technically have a Captain,” Sean corrected.

“Amy’s dead and I’m not handing over authority,” Celine countered.

“Doesn’t matter what ye do, Chris is the senior crew mate aboard,” Sean shrugged. “He’s been on the most missions out of all of us. Since Amy isn’t here, second in command moves over to him, and since ye aren’t our real Captain anyway, that moves him up to Captain.”

“Having a Captain doesn’t make up for the lack of bodies,” Celine said.

“It’s up to the Captain to report back to base, but since you’ve been trying to sabotage us from the start, I’m willing to bet home base hasn’t had any real updates in weeks,” Link said, moving out of the way so Charlie could finish trying her arms back. “All it takes is one message from Chris informing headquarters what’s been happening, and then they’ll either order us back or send us more crew mates.”

“And either way, we still win,” Celine smirked.

“Not if we finish our mission,” Ash said.

“Yes, but how can you trust that they’ll send you real crew mates this time?” Celine asked. “Lillie and I snuck on board and you all were none the wiser.”

“The five of us can trust each other,” Chris said, stepping around to face Celine.

Celine took a moment to look between each crew mate before smiling again. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

None of them believed her. Ash scoffed and pulled her up to her feet before shoving her forward in the direction of the airlock. “Sorry, you don’t get your hour to make peace.”

“I made my peace well before stepping foot into the Skeld.”

******

Watching Ash shove Celine into the airlock chamber felt like treason. They all knew she wasn’t the real Captain, but it still felt wrong. Chris hadn’t even been able to vote for her, despite his gut telling him she was the killer. And now with the weight of Captain on his shoulders...

He never wanted that title or responsibility, but he knew he’d do anything to keep his remaining crew safe. 

“Any last words?” Chris asked as they watched Celine struggle to get up off the ground and into a kneeling position with her arms duct taped and tied behind her back.

Celine paused for a moment before looking up at the remaining five. “Believe it or not, I didn’t hate all of you. Humanity as a whole, for sure, but some of you were okay. Us killing your friends was nothing personal. Most of the time it was pure convenience.”

“Most of the time?” Charlie asked.

“Okay, Lillie got Oliver and Ethan because she thought you guys would never blame her for those deaths,” Celine explained. “Amy just so happened to be the person I locked in the admin room, so that one I did feel somewhat bad for. She wasn’t the worst humanity has to offer.”

“And Morgan?” Sean asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

“Morgan was close to figuring out the vents,” Celine answered. “They wanted to discuss it with me after dinner, so they had to go.”

“Fuck you,” Sean spat.

“Just doing my job.”

“Well you failed,” Ash said, walking over to the door switch. “On your word, Captain.”

Chris stared at Celine for a moment longer. He may have been too cowardly to vote, but he would be the one to give the final order. Link reached out and squeezed his hand in encouragement. Chris took a deep breath and nodded.

“Close it.”

Ash sealed the airlock, the thick doors separating the rest of the crew from the imposter. Once the doors were completely shut, Ash hit the button that opened up the outer door, sending Celine hurling into space. The five of them all stared and watched her drift away, none of them moving or saying a word even after she was out of their sights.

Five crew mates survived, and no imposters remained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to both thank everyone for reading and congratulate you all on a win! This is technically where this story ends. I am planning on doing the other two maps available. Rules for that will change slightly to make it a little more challenging, but all of that will be covered when I post those. For now, celebrate the win! 
> 
> There will be one final chapter on this fic explaining each character death from the imposter’s point of view, as well as a lead in to the next map. I’d like to thank you all for playing along with this idea, and I’m excited to see how the other maps play out.


End file.
